THE world economy resisted battering by conflicts and inflation last year but is expected to grow by only 2.8 per cent in 2025, according to a United Nations analysis.

China’s strong economy will be a key factor in world economic growth, a UN report titled World Economic Situation and Prospects 2025 predicts, along with anticipated robust performances for India and Indonesia. 

The European Union, Japan and Britain are expected to experience only modest recovery, says the report published on Thursday.

“We are in a period of stable, subpar growth,” said Shantanu Mukherjee, head of the global economic monitoring branch of the economic analysis and policy division at the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

China and the United States remain as the world’s two largest economies.

The former is expected to maintain strong growth of 4.8 per cent during 2025, while the US economy is expected to slow from 2.8 per cent to 1.9 per over the year,  after outperforming expectations in 2024, the report says.

The UN projected last January that global economic growth in  2024 would be 2.4 per cent. It said on Thursday that the rate was estimated to have been higher, at 2.8 per cent.

European growth this year is projected to gradually pick up after a weaker than expected performance in 2024. India is expected to drive a strong outlook for south Asia, with regional growth projected at 5.7 per cent in 2025 and 6 per cent in 2026.

The report adds that “the global reduction of poverty over the past 30 years has been driven by strong economic performance. 

“This has been especially true in Asia, where rapid economic growth and structural transformation have allowed countries such as China, India and Indonesia to achieve poverty alleviation unprecedented in scale and scope.”

China, India and Indonesia are among the world’s most populated countries and are all members of the Brics bloc of developing nations.